Global Labour Hours in Paid and Unpaid Work: Inequality, Productivity and Structural t Transformation, 1800-2100

Marie Andreescu, Romaine Loubes, Thomas Piketty () and Anne-Sophie Robilliard
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Marie Andreescu: WIL - World Inequality Lab, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris
Romaine Loubes: WIL - World Inequality Lab, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris
Thomas Piketty: WIL - World Inequality Lab, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris

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Abstract: This paper constructs global harmonized historical series on labour hours by gender, employment status and sector in 57 core territories – 48 main countries and 9 residual regions – covering all world regions across the 1800-2025 period. We quantify the global decline in labour hours and relate it to the long run rise in productivity, with sizable variations across regions, periods and sectors. At the global level, hourly productivity (net domestic product per work hour) rose from about 0.7€ in 1800 to 16€ in 2025 (PPP 2025 €). In 2025, hourly productivity ranges from 4€ across Subsaharan Africa to 55-60€ in the USA, Sweden, Germany or France. In the longrun, about 35-40% of the rise in productivity was used to reduce labour hours and obtain extra leisure and 60-65% to raise production. We also stress the role of power relations and unpaid labour in the changing structure of labour hours throughout the 1800-2025 period. In particular, we find that the gender gap in hourly pay is currently much larger than usually thought once we include unpaid domestic work. Using this definition, the gender pay gap reaches 40-50% in rich countries, as opposed to 10-20% in conventional estimates. Finally, based on historical trends, we discuss future trajectories for labour hours, productivity, gender inequality and structural transformation over the 2025-2100 period. In our central scenario, we estimate that global hourly productivity could reach about 100€ in all countries by 2100, together with substantial reduction in work hours and gender gaps and large sectoral reallocation of labour time away from the most polluting sectors.

Date: 2025-05
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Working Paper: Global Labour Hours in Paid and Unpaid Work: Inequality, Productivity and Structural t Transformation, 1800-2100 (2025)
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